The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 04, 2003
Filed:
May. 22, 2001
Hideaki Inoue, Amimachi, JP;
Makoto Miyaki, Amimachi, JP;
Riso Kagaku Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A printer includes a printing mechanism and an ink container. The ink container includes a cylinder having a side wall and provided with an ink discharge port in its front end face, a piston received in the cylinder to be slidable along the side wall of the cylinder, and ink between the piston and the front end face in the cylinder. An LED projects light onto the side wall of the cylinder in a predetermined position in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder, and a phototransistor is positioned near a rear end face of the cylinder to be adapted to receive the light projected by the LED and passing through the side wall of the cylinder only once, and outputs an electric signal upon receipt of light. The remainder of ink in the ink container is detected on the basis of the output of the phototransistor.